Antonio Brown wants to return to the NFL and according to his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, there are a few teams that have shown interest in the free-agent wide receiver. But are the Philadelphia Eagles the best option for Brown? Stephen A. Smith of ESPN believes so and he made his case from Brown on the show First Take on Tuesday.
“You damn right they should,” Smith said. “This is a team that has the 21st ranked passing attack and you got receivers all over the place dropping passes. I challenge anybody to show me one quarterback in the league that has had wide receivers drop more passes than the Philadelphia Eagles have dropped from Carson Wentz this season. And yet Carson Wentz still only have four interceptions on this entire season and about 15 touchdowns. The Eagles are just a half game out of first place. (Ronald) Darby is back in your secondary. (Jalen) Mills is back in your secondary. Even though they may not be great, the fact of the matter is they are an upgrade from those cats they had out there when those brothers couldn’t play.”
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Smith went on to say that adding Brown wouldn’t be a big risk since he’s already been cut by the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots this year. So why not take a shot on him?
“Antonio Brown is a minimal risk,” Smith added. Here’s the point that I’m trying to make — Antonio Brown because of all his nonsense and all of the stuff that he’s done. You want to get back into the league? He had a chance at Seattle, didn’t happen. They rather get Josh Gordon. We know his checkered past, but they grabbed him in a heartbeat before they grabbed Antonio Brown. So if you’re Antonio Brown, this may be your shot. If I’m the Eagles, I’m desperate enough because I’m close enough to making the playoffs. I’m only a half-game behind Dallas, I play Dallas later on in the season, I go for it.”
While Brown has his off-the-field issues which include being sued for sexual assault and being accused of sexual misconduct, he’s still a talented wide receiver. In the one game he played during his time with the Patriots, he caught four passes for 56 yards and one touchdown. When Brown was with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018, Brown caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Right now the Eagles are 5-4 and wouldn’t make the playoffs if it started today. So Brown could be the spark the team needs for the second half of the season.
